


The Hitman's Apprentice

by Neurotoxia



Category: Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Kidnapping, Wutai
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-15
Updated: 2013-10-15
Packaged: 2017-12-29 12:46:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,642
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1005632
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Neurotoxia/pseuds/Neurotoxia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Elena never wanted to be the damsel in distress, not when she knew twenty-seven ways to kill a man with her bare hands. Somehow, she had still managed to end up as Don Corneo's hostage.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Hitman's Apprentice

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Samuraiter](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Samuraiter/gifts).



> Dear recipient, I hope you enjoy this, even though I didn't exactly stick to the prompt you provided. It was my first time writing Elena, thanks for giving me the opportunity! Hopefully, I didn't skewer the timeline too much, it's been a while since I've played the whole game. Or I'll just call it artistic licence ;)

Elena hated the bastard. Shiva knows she did. Nothing was going as planned -- she had envisioned something different for her new promotion.

Senior Turk. She always wanted to be in the top team, be better than her sister for once. Elena had been eager to prove herself, so she wouldn’t be only the temporary replacement for an injured Reno. Maybe she was too eager.

The missions she went on now were more dangerous, littered with secrets and much more of a responsibility. So far she had acted like a ditzy blonde, which drove her crazy because that really wasn’t who she was. 

Being tied to a statue of Da Chao in Wutai didn’t support that self-perception at the moment though. Even worse, she had been tied to it by Don Corneo and his cronies -- the scum of Midgar’s underbelly and she had managed to get abducted by them. Well, at least the view was nice, Elena thought with a hint of cynicism.

Shinra’s and Don Corneo’s agreement to work together had been half-hearted at best. Don Corneo fed Shinra intel from the slums and Shinra in turn let the Don go about his shady business. Elena had been to his Wall Market mansion more often than she would have liked to collect the information. Don Corneo only let women inside his house and as a female rookie, tedious jobs like this had often been thrown her way. Prodigy with medals or not.

She wasn’t the only hostage, though. Corneo had taken a member of AVALANCHE, too. A girl, younger than Elena. Yuffie Kisagari, if Elena remembered the file correctly. With so much happening lately, learning names hadn’t been at the top of her to-do-list. 

Don Corneo was lounging about at the foot of the statue, feeling smug and superior, rambling on about how lovely they both were and how he couldn’t decide between them. Elena would have loved to put a bullet in his skull right now if she still had her gun and the use of her hands. Just her hands would be fine, actually, she knew twenty-seven ways to kill someone without a weapon. But her hands were pressed flat against the rough stone, not moving an inch. The Kisagari girl was wriggling against the ropes as well, but just as unsuccessfully. All the while, she was yelling insults to Corneo. Elena agreed with all the colourful word choices, but she didn’t join the hissing and screeching. 

Remaining calm had been drilled into her from day one. She wasn’t the hysterical type, anyway. But when she was nervous she talked too much. It was a bad habit of hers. In the current situation however, she wasn’t nervous, she was angry. 

The hostage of Don Corneo. Stupid, so stupid. Elena knew she wasn’t in immediate danger. Don Corneo wanted to use her to lure the Turks into his hands. Her worth as a hostage depended on being alive. Although trying to kill her wasn’t the most unpleasant thing he could try to do to her. The thought alone was chilling.

She wasn’t too sure how much she was worth. She had only been a Senior Turk for a short while. And while the group may have been close-knit, Turks weren’t cuddly creatures. They saw death too often, caused it often enough to desensitise. They weren’t nice people.

It wasn’t long ago that Reno had killed thousands of people by dropping a whole Midgarian Sector on the slums and Elena doubted he had trouble sleeping at night. He simply didn’t care about 99% of the planet’s population. Elena had already seen Reno and even her boss Tseng refuse orders or find a way around them if it didn’t agree with their morals. Neither had refused to bomb Sector 7. Which said a lot about the moral code among the Turks.

She wasn’t sure she was on the list of people they gave a toss about. And she wouldn’t blame them. Elena knew the mindset of Turks, had lived it for years. From the outside, it was hard to grasp: leaving a comrade to rot easily looked like one of the greatest offences known to man, but cutting your losses was easier sometimes. All she could rely on was that she had hopefully somehow proved that she was worth saving.

Don Corneo was not a man of honorable fighting, so he knew a lot of the tricks to conceal weapons and Materia. The knife from her boot had been taken, the razorblade sewn into the pocket of her jacket and the bracelet whose stones were made of Materia. The way she was tied up didn’t leave her any room to get free, not even through dislocating or breaking bones. She was most definitely stuck. Bollocks. And her back was already sore from the rough stone it was pressed on.

Next to her, the girl was still yelling.

“Will you shut up, for Shiva’s sake?! It’s not going to get us anywhere!” Elena hissed at the girl who in turn looked at her as if wanting to pound her. She probably did. Turks weren’t popular among AVALANCHE.

“Piss off!” She growled, seeming more like an angry cat than a truly dangerous individual. 

“Then keep it shut!” Elena threw back at her. It was really all she wanted. Some quiet to sort out her thoughts.

“As if I’m going to listen to you!”

Yes, Elena definitely wanted to strangle her.

*~*~*

Rude and Reno had come to her aid. They hadn’t been funny about it, berated her for it, or chewed her out. Reno hadn’t even cracked a joke, which was unusual, but not unheard of. The man might be the initiator of many shenanigans that went on after hours or when things were boring in the office, but out in the field, Reno could be as serious as Tseng.

Which was terrifying because Reno was more unhinged than their commander and thus a bloody minefield. There was a reason Rude was his partner.

“Thanks,” Elena muttered and rubbed her forearms which felt numb and sore from being pressed against the stone.

“Didn’t think we’d come, huh?” Reno grinned and kicked a pebble off the ledge of the cliff. 

An undignified squawk sounded from beyond. It was Don Corneo, who had toppled over the ledge when trying to get out of the way of Rude’s bullet. He was still hanging on, if only barely. A little further away, Cloud Strife and his buddies were tending to their comrade, who was gesticulating wildly while no doubt retelling her experience.

“Uhm...” She didn’t know what to say. Reno only snorted.

“You don’t have to worry about hurting my feelings, y’know? We were waiting if you’d come back on your own.” He grinned and rested his weapon over his shoulder.

“I tried, but it didn’t work.” Elena felt embarrassed. No doubt Reno and Rude would have at least twenty tricks to get out of captivity without the use of their hands. She needed to train more.

“No worries. You’re not some helpless damsel, you just don’t know all the tricks yet. Rude knows a few neat ones, I’m sure he’ll show you.” Reno jerked his head in his partner’s direction who only nodded.

“Help me up, you bastards!” Don Corneo yelled, not half as threatening as he wished to sound.

“You got some problems down there, Corneo?” Fake nonchalance had crept into Reno’s voice. He peered over the edge where Don Corneo was struggling, face flushed red and scrunched up in fear and anger. The fingers clamped onto the stone surface were the only thing keeping him from plummeting down.

“Shut up and get me out of here, you piece of scum!”

The fact that no one from AVALANCHE stepped in to help Corneo told the tale of his popularity quite clearly. And the terrorists thought of themselves as the good guys. They were starting to retreat, actually. Just as well. Elena wasn’t in the mood to have a confrontation with them.

Reno peered at the Don with his best impersonation of Tseng’s cold glare. Elena thought it was unnerving. So did Don Corneo, it seemed, because he turned his pleas to Elena instead.

“You won’t let me fall, darling, right? I’m sorry about that kidnapping thing, I just couldn’t resist your beauty! You’re a woman, you’re not as cruel as them! Right?” He babbled, the knuckles of his fingers quivering under the strain.

“You son of a bitch,” Elena hissed, drawing the weapon Rude had given her earlier. A bullet between the eyes it was.

“God, you’re pathetic!” Reno threw his head back and laughed. “You should see her conduct interrogations. Although I admit it _is_ a thing of beauty when she starts removing body parts.”

Elena smirked. She was good at interrogations. Tseng had commended her for her skill on several occasions and promised to take her under his wing.

“Sayonara, scumbag!” Reno said cheerfully and stepped down on the Don’s fingers. Hard.

The man howled, drawing his fingers back on instinct. They listened to his screams growing fainter as he fell to what Elena hoped was his certain death. Though she would have liked to do it herself.

“Sorry, Elena. Couldn’t resist.” Reno smiled and shrugged.

“It’s fine. Less messy anyway,” Elena sighed and tucked away the gun. The people of Wutai wouldn’t have liked blood splattered all over the statue of Da Chao. And Shinra didn’t have any use for another conflict on their hands; Wutai was in a precarious state of disgruntled surrender. They wouldn’t need much to let it boil over. “But you’re buying me a pint for that missed opportunity.”

“Deal! As long as you get me a Whiskey for saving your arse.”

“Fine,” Elena said, unable to hide her smile. 

An evening in the pub sounded just like what she needed.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [The Hitman's Apprentice (the bechdel test remix)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11942418) by [coloredink](https://archiveofourown.org/users/coloredink/pseuds/coloredink)




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